The assembly language is *wonderful* to work in. It's super easy to understand compared to other assembly languages
+100
I wish this were more universally recognized. Too often, when people hear "assembly language" they run for cover. PASM is different: it's approachable, powerful, and key to making the Propeller perfom at its highest level. Since there really is no substitute, it's nice that the default choice is so friendly!
..it [ C ] was doing crazy things like optimizing away code that needed to run. Hopefully it is better now
That is almost certainly due to programmer error. Forgetting the "volatile" keyword no doubt. This is not problem with C on the Propeller. Or if it is, it is a serious bug you should have reported.
A good C compiler would go a long way towards making it be used more commonly
propgcc is actually GCC. The most widely used compiler in the world!
It's 'weird'. Having no interrupts and eight cores was a head-scratcher when I started using it.
That is odd. Having dedicated cores to perform functions as and when required is a lot easier to rationalize about than a pile of nested, prioritized, interrupts trying to do the same thing. And often failing in unpredictable ways because they do not have the time.
Having your own foundry is not required to be a semi-conductor company but doing more than one design is. That is if you want to be in the chip business.
Now i have only worked for Microchip, and new versions of micro-controller come out at an alarming rate. Maybe too fast, but then they would not be able to get their market share, without follow on variants.
It is certainly true that the Pop was unique when it came out ??? years ago, but that has not slowed down the semiconductor companies from putting micros in almost every thing that uses electricity.
To get a new micro into the market, especially one with the limitations and features of the Prop there needs to be a development tool ecosystem because that, and the price per chip is what sells volume users.
Parallax just does not have the depth of resources to meet the challenge of a main stream micro designer.
But then that's ok with me since the Prop is fun.
I just think it should be put into perspective as a learning tool, and in some cases a good fit for niche application.
For example how many of the billions of micros embedded in stuff need PAL/NTSC video. Not many, percentage wise.
For example how many of the billions of micros embedded in stuff need PAL/NTSC video. Not many, percentage wise.
To say that is to underestimate the versatility of the waitvid opcode. PAL/NTSC video is just one application of this very facile (albeit, perhaps, unfortunately named, hence typecast) operation that, in reality, is a very high-speed, general-purpose serializer. I've used it myself to generate PWM signals on eight channels simultaneously. And there's much more that it can do besides just video.
Having your own foundry is not required to be a semi-conductor company but doing more than one design is. That is if you want to be in the chip business.
I think that what I said? Isn't it?
Agreed on your other points.
Any yep. PASM is fantastically easy. It's elegant, simple, powerful. An as the iceing on the cake you can write it into your Spin programs really, really easily.
Phill, i always thought that as a small upgrade to make the video hardware a general purpose serializer for output AND input.
Now that is the kind of incremental improvement a semiconductor company would do to get a little bit more market share but instead they tried to reinvent the Prop 1 to be bigger and better and faster and just the greatest. Now look how much time people have spent waiting for the follow on product. How do they stay in business?
Years ago I worked on a big government/ military contract to build a widget. We used an Atmel uP chip that cost $3, but by the time you added all the extra supporting chips the finished board cost $600. Still the Atmel chip only cost $3. And software development took forever. The Atmel was an 8 bit 8051, and we needed 12 bit precision for our ADC converter. I talked the project manager into using the Basic Stamp for all the dozens of test fixtures and instrumentation setups. BTW the Propeller chip on an equivalent PDB would have done everything for under $40. So, to answer your question, Yes the jobs are out there, you just have to be creative and be at the right place at the right time. See also the Parallax commercial success stories on this web site. Or better yet start your own product line like I did using Prop chips.
Glad you chose this direction. This is the exact reason I was making the Mil-Spec OS, to accomodate research and making a whole factory Propeller compliant. If you are the Plant Engineer,
You need to fix problems quickly, even if the manufacturer of the device does not accomodate you.(If you can) interesting, what prop chip product line did your start?
I look forward to lots more postings. The more who profit from your products (e.g., selling, consulting, developing, teaching, certifying), the more Parallax grows.
You have done a good job making Parallax products available in in local stores and classrooms, and it will be great when graduates can apply their knowledge on the same platforms in their careers.
I am not a programmer so please forgive me if I do not explain what I am looking for as eloquently as one would expect with in this forum. I am looking for a propeller programmer and came across this thread. If this is not the proper place for this post, I apologize.
I have a small, late stage, start up that is looking for an advanced imbedded systems, propeller programmer, (experience with C programming preferred, but not required at this point), to advance our custom application products development. Knowledge of circuit design and board layout / design a plus.
Our current programmer who has done well growing with our needs, no longer has the time that is required to support existing contracts, or new product in the pipe line.
We are located in Michigan, north west of Detroit. We are doing Government / Military work so all parties involved must be ITAR compliant (US citizen with no foreign relations). Parties must also be able to pass a low level military security background check.
I realize that the odds of finding some one locally is not realistic, so work from home will work. There will be required travel to support field testing.
Anyone interested in discussing our needs in grater detail are encouraged to contact me. I am also very interested in any advice as to where to find a programmer.
max21,
Cool. Although not the intent of my starting this thread, I will PM a message to you as I live in your area.
To continue the discussion, I wonder if readers of this forum have additional actionable ideas to speed the Propeller adoption rate and expand opportunities for all.
When I go to job sites and search on "Parallax," "Propeller" and "spin," I get a lot of unrelated postings. Searches on "P8X32," "P8X32A," or "pasm" don't return results. Searches on "Arduino" or "PIC" return lots of relevant results. I am fond of "Parallax," "Propeller" and "spin." Unfortunately these terms are not unique. So far this year I have found three opportunities (one from this thread, thanks to Ken) for Propeller jobs across the US. I have found dozens for competing MCUs in various cities in the US. The Propeller cottage industry is disproportionately small compared to the industry. Many have done reasonably well on their own developing items for Propeller enthusiasts, props, test equipment, toys, but the environment creates few jobs. I find it difficult to believe that the disadvantages described in this thread are the reasons. Something is missing from this picture.
Comments
I wish this were more universally recognized. Too often, when people hear "assembly language" they run for cover. PASM is different: it's approachable, powerful, and key to making the Propeller perfom at its highest level. Since there really is no substitute, it's nice that the default choice is so friendly!
-Phil
Having your own foundry is not required to be a semi-conductor company but doing more than one design is. That is if you want to be in the chip business.
Now i have only worked for Microchip, and new versions of micro-controller come out at an alarming rate. Maybe too fast, but then they would not be able to get their market share, without follow on variants.
It is certainly true that the Pop was unique when it came out ??? years ago, but that has not slowed down the semiconductor companies from putting micros in almost every thing that uses electricity.
To get a new micro into the market, especially one with the limitations and features of the Prop there needs to be a development tool ecosystem because that, and the price per chip is what sells volume users.
Parallax just does not have the depth of resources to meet the challenge of a main stream micro designer.
But then that's ok with me since the Prop is fun.
I just think it should be put into perspective as a learning tool, and in some cases a good fit for niche application.
For example how many of the billions of micros embedded in stuff need PAL/NTSC video. Not many, percentage wise.
cheers,
richard
-Phil
Agreed on your other points.
Any yep. PASM is fantastically easy. It's elegant, simple, powerful. An as the iceing on the cake you can write it into your Spin programs really, really easily.
Now that is the kind of incremental improvement a semiconductor company would do to get a little bit more market share but instead they tried to reinvent the Prop 1 to be bigger and better and faster and just the greatest. Now look how much time people have spent waiting for the follow on product. How do they stay in business?
cheers,
richard
You need to fix problems quickly, even if the manufacturer of the device does not accomodate you.(If you can)
http://technical.ly/job/embedded-software-en
I look forward to lots more postings. The more who profit from your products (e.g., selling, consulting, developing, teaching, certifying), the more Parallax grows.
You have done a good job making Parallax products available in in local stores and classrooms, and it will be great when graduates can apply their knowledge on the same platforms in their careers.
I am not a programmer so please forgive me if I do not explain what I am looking for as eloquently as one would expect with in this forum. I am looking for a propeller programmer and came across this thread. If this is not the proper place for this post, I apologize.
I have a small, late stage, start up that is looking for an advanced imbedded systems, propeller programmer, (experience with C programming preferred, but not required at this point), to advance our custom application products development. Knowledge of circuit design and board layout / design a plus.
Our current programmer who has done well growing with our needs, no longer has the time that is required to support existing contracts, or new product in the pipe line.
We are located in Michigan, north west of Detroit. We are doing Government / Military work so all parties involved must be ITAR compliant (US citizen with no foreign relations). Parties must also be able to pass a low level military security background check.
I realize that the odds of finding some one locally is not realistic, so work from home will work. There will be required travel to support field testing.
Anyone interested in discussing our needs in grater detail are encouraged to contact me. I am also very interested in any advice as to where to find a programmer.
Many thanks in advance.
Max21
Cool. Although not the intent of my starting this thread, I will PM a message to you as I live in your area.
To continue the discussion, I wonder if readers of this forum have additional actionable ideas to speed the Propeller adoption rate and expand opportunities for all.
Dennis